


Mind Soothed

by Arytra



Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Power Rangers Time Force
Genre: Mind Issues, Multi, Rangers as Family, Shane Clarke/Trent Fernandez, Team as Family, Trip Grew Up and Learned a Thing or Two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-03 11:36:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8711086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: SPD's memory zapper caused a few more problems that they expected.  Fortunately, it falls under Time Travel and Time Force sends someone to help.





	

Trip made his way through Time Force's building at a quickened pace. That, in itself, was not usual for him as most of the cadets were used to seeing him rush through the building for one thing or another. The unusual thing was that he wasn't even slowing down when people moved to talk to him. He walked right past them without a word. He gave a quick nod to both Katie and Lucas as he passed them, noticing that neither moved to follow. It wasn't often that he was called in by both of his bosses at once and when it did, often the other members of his team were called in as well. He sped up slightly. He headed through the door where Jen was sitting in one of the visitor chairs looking as in charge as she ever did while Alex sat behind his desk, letting his command over the room flow. Trip didn't back down to either but did take a seat. “You called?” He asked tiredly.

They were worried about something. It was in the air of the office and it was rushing into him. He tried to block it, but he'd never gotten good at blocking his family to Lucas' dismay. Fortunately, over ten years of working together meant that his team knew how to help now. Jen reached over and gently touched his hand to ground him in the moment. He appreciated it. He had a full grasp of his abilities now having trained them for ten years, but touch was still something he greatly appreciated when it came from someone who understood how to use it. Alex leaned back into what Trip considered to be a relaxing position. “Something has come to light,” he said slowly.

“Wes? Eric?” Trip asked, his heart in his throat. Alex shook his head quickly and understandingly. The last time they'd all been called in, it was to let them know that Wes had called to let them know his father had died. Alex had sneaked them back in time, giving his condolences to Wes over the communicator and apologizing for not being able to join them.

“They're fine,” Alex assured him. “It's Dino Thunder. Well, three out of five of them.”

Trip looked over at Jen. If he was here, it had to be about Time Travel, though Power Rangers were notorious for screwing with the time stream. Time Force salvaged what they could, but it wasn't often enough and things did end up changed. If it wasn't for the fact that Power Rangers also saved the world on a regular basis, Time Force would have arrested the lot of them and been done with it, certain that the repercussions of arresting people in the past would outweigh the certain problems they would cause. As always, Jen didn't let him down. “SPD has a memory wipe,” she said. “A smaller version of what we have.”

“How?” Trip asked. “I thought we got rid of those. You even had me tear them apart to make sure that no one could ever use them again and Alex threw the pieces in a fire.”

“Apparently, it's not from Earth,” Alex said, deciding against protesting that he had merely ordered them to be incinerated and had not, as Trip implied, thrown them into a random fire. “Which makes it even worse that it was used against four Earthlings. Conner McKnight, Ethan James, and Kira Ford were each hit with it twice. We got notice that they, along with Trent Fernandez, were hit with it once, but now we have reason to believe that the three had been memory wiped later as well. Worse, it doesn't seem like SPD understands the repercussions behind this nor did its Commander and Rangers.”

Trip latched on to the more important part. “Rangers did this to other Rangers?” He asked, looking horrified. Now he knew why Jen had her hand on his as his own emotions threatened to burst. She forced a calm that he couldn't have on his own right now. He looked at her and saw matching disgust in her own eyes. They had very nearly lost their own memories to a machine that had never been designed for that. It had been created to help people through traumatic memories and events so that they wouldn't be held up by them and even when it was voluntary, it was a controversy. Alex had been on the forefront of removing them from Time Force Headquarters since that day, but he could feel the shred of regret that the man still held over it. To use alien technology on humans when it had never been tested was mind-numbing. Even worse, since they didn't have record of anything like this, it would eventually be outlawed anyway making the entire thing worse.

“Twice,” Jen said. “Fernandez seems to be fine since he only interacted with it once. McKnight, Ford, and James are not. They're having unknown side effects. Alex will be making certain that SPD doesn't use the device again. Ever. Especially considering that Bridge Carson was temporary teammates with Kira Ford. We don't need this happening again. I need you to go and see what you can do for McKnight, James, and Ford.”

Trip nodded. It was rare that an entire team of Rangers needed to go back through time and at this point, they all had their specialties. If they hadn't called in the others, it meant it was a solo mission. The look in Jen's eyes was apologetic considering she knew that he hated going back on his own. She squeezed his hand like the older sister she was. Alex's eyes only showed the faith that Alex had in him to get it done. He sat up straight. “Mission accepted,” he said, watching as both of them added pride to their looks. “What do I need to know? And one of you needs to tell Katie and Lucas,” he said, not about to let them know what he was doing. Jen sighed.

“I'll do it,” she assured him before briefing him. “The three of them are starting to have shifted memories. Sometimes, they just forget things, other times it's like their memories are part of a different time stream. Unfortunately, there's not even consistency between the three of their memories. One might end up with the memory erased, another unaffected, and the third with new memories. Further, Ford's powers were reactivated during Operation Overdrive's time and she accidentally pterascreamed a hole through a side of her mentor's home in panic. Oliver and Fernandez never had aggressive powers even if they did still have them. Invisibility and camouflage isn't going to help against a weapon like that. Fortunately, McKnight and James don't have theirs as it would only add to the trouble. The Red Wind Ranger, Shane Clarke, was called in to help if it happens again by removing the air from around her in the event of another possible catastrophe. It's obviously not ideal and I'm sure Clarke is sickened over having to do it.”

Trip nodded. “I'm not sure how much I can repair,” he said, thinking about it. Jen smiled at him.

“If anyone can figure it out, it's you,” she answered. “Be careful, Trip.”

“I will,” he promised. “Just make sure it won't happen again.”

Alex nodded. “We'll see you when you get back.”

***

Trip hated having to keep secrets which was why he'd dodged both Lucas and Katie before he headed back in time. He didn't want to accidentally spill anything to the two of them. Time travel was a little less rocky than it had been and Lucas had grabbed each and every one of his teammates and showed them how to drive it. Thus, Trip had a very good idea of how it worked at least. He made his way back through time and landed outside of Reefside, hiking to the house. All of the Dino Thunder Ranger were well into adulthood by this point, but since they'd started to have problems, Tommy had pulled them all back to him and made as many phone calls as he could to get help.

Trip knocked on the door and was greeted by a frazzled looking woman who looked exhausted and as if she hadn't changed her clothes in a couple of days. It took him a minute to realize that this person was Hayley considering that all of the information that they'd had on her was that she was constantly in control of herself and the situation. He gave a polite wave. “I'm Trip,” he said, hoping she'd figure it out. She easily did and let him in the house, heading over to Tommy. He'd seen pictures of the first Sixth Ranger, of course, but the man was a shell of his former self at the moment. He'd lost weight and there was an obvious sense of guilt pouring off of him. Trip glanced over to see Shane holding Trent to him and running fingers through his hair gently in comfort. He couldn't hear what Shane was murmuring, but Trent's eyes were closed and Trip had to push away from the younger man in order to focus. He didn't see the other three.

Hayley tapped Tommy on the arm and motioned to Trip. Tommy looked up and headed over, shaking Trip's hand. “Good to see you, Trip,” he said. He had the feeling that Wes and Eric had told Tommy that he'd be there since Tommy didn't look surprised at all. Nor was he surprised by the other man's reaction as if Trip was an old friend. Trip supposed distant cousin might be a better term.

“I heard,” he said, not wanting to waste time. “Where are they?”

“Sleeping,” Tommy answered. “Conner had the problem today. We think he was locked in a memory. He tore apart downstairs the best he could before coming out of it. Trip, what's wrong with my Rangers?”

Trip gave him a wry smile. “The memory eraser,” he said. “It was built by a different species. It... it's not safe for humans. It might not even safe for the alien race that created it. Time Force just began to start researching this kind of science and we're still having arguments about it,” he answered.

“Can you fix it?” Tommy asked. He saw Hayley look up from where she was sitting as Shane and Trent looked over with hesitated .

“That's what we're hoping!” Trip said. “I'm going to need Trent's help and your help. They're sleeping you said?”

“Yes,” Tommy answered. “To both questions.”

Trip nodded and looked at Shane, the only member not of the team but a close enough friend. He needed a slightly less unbiased opinion that the three's family. “I don't like doing this without asking,” he told him, remembering a time when it had just happened and he couldn't control it. “But right now would be perfect because they're not going to have the anxiety they'd have if we ask them and we can do this quicker. Will they accept it?”

Shane nodded. “Right now,” he said. “I don't think there's anything they wouldn't accept if it fixes this.”

“Can you ethically go through with it?” Hayley asked. Trip sighed.

“It's... not the best idea,” he admitted. “And they might not appreciate it later.”

“But...”

“But they're Rangers,” he said, moving his hand slightly so that the morpher showed up. The others nodded, Tommy clapping his shoulder and pointing the way to where the trio were sleeping. Trip headed into the bedroom. They weren't soundly sleeping and Trip wondered when the last time had been that they had. “For what it's worth, I'm sorry I didn't ask.”

He took several hours just to analyze the damage and keep it from going further, stemming the infection to a smaller area. That would stabilize them to where they were now, but that wasn't enough. It had already been four hours and he knew that they'd be waking up soon. He chose Kira to start the real work with as the only Ranger with active powers on her team. He motioned for Tommy and Trent to join him. He scanned their memories, looking through them carefully and trying to rebuild Kira's, slowly repairing some of the changed memories back into the normal state. Once he did that, he pushed in a way that made certain she wouldn't fall into the waking dreams that they had all been having. Finally, he took the memories that Trent and Tommy had and repaired her lost memories to the best of his ability. She'd never remember it the way that she had, but she at least had something to work with. That was all he was able to finish before they started to wake. Rather, before Conner and Ethan started to wake. Kira stayed asleep.

“Is she alright?” Tommy whispered. Trip nodded.

“She'll be okay,” he promised, keeping his professionalism to the surface even though he wanted to cheer.

“Doctor O?” Conner asked, looking at Trip. “What's going on?”

“Trip's here to help you,” Tommy answered. Conner just nodded at that.

“Okay,” he agreed. Trip gave him a nod. “Go for it.”

“It's easier when you're asleep,” Trip said. “You're less likely to fight me.”

Ethan looked pensive. “Because our minds will think they're under attack?”

“Something like that,” Trip said, sitting down cross-legged on the bed. He'd been standing for hours. “Your brain fixes itself at night anyway. It heals. So, if I work while you're asleep, your mind is going to help me fix it rather than fight me.”

“Okay,” Ethan said. Conner shrugged.

“Sure, Dude,” he answered. Trip looked at Tommy.

“Do you have a place I can go lie down?” He asked. Tommy nodded, leading him out of the room where Conner and Ethan stayed behind. Trip watched as Tommy ignored Trent and Shane curled up on the couch as Shane held Trent to him in sleep as he walked past them and Trip looked a little amused. They hadn't mentioned that in history class, though he wondered if it was a new development and if he should be checking the time streams. He decided that was Lucas' problem for now.

He laid down and let himself fall into a meditative sleep. He wasn't surprised to find himself on the floor the next morning. Old habits died hard. He made his way down to where all five Dino Thunder Rangers as well as Hayley and Shane were talking. Kira looked far brighter than she had and smiled when Trip joined the table. She handed him a piece of paper. He looked at it curiously and noticed that it was a consent form. “I was told you were worried about it, so there you go. Ethan wrote it up. His and Conner's are in their room.”

“How are you feeling?” He asked.

“Adjusting,” she answered. She looked at him curiously. “How long until I'm completely better?”

“About a year,” he said. “Time Force will have me check back in about every four months to make sure that you're not relapsing.”

“You make it sound like we have brain cancer, Dude,” Conner said with a slightly unsure smile. Trip shrugged.

“Yeah,” he answered. “But you're heading into remission.”

“I don't remember reading that you were a doctor,” Tommy said calmly and Trip looked at the table.

“After we finished fighting with Wild Force, we figured out that most of the time, we weren't going to need to fight as a team, but we were the group they were going to send back. So we specialized,” he answered, looking up to catch Tommy's eye. “Trauma is a problem with time shifts.”

“What about your other teammates?” Tommy asked.

“Jen and Alex run Time Force. Jen is more of the field commander and Alex is behind the scenes, but they talk a lot,” he answered. “Katie quit for a bit, but eventually came back. She handles search and rescue missions.”

“With time travel?” He asked.

“Searching for whoever caused it and rescuing civilians that might have gotten injured due to it,” he answered, his voice starting to get more excited. “It's nice to have a super strong woman who can tear through debris on your side when you hear a baby crying. She's amazing! Lucas is a test pilot for the most part. But he's also on call if it looks like the journey back is going to be rough. Lucas can fly through anything!”

Trip was grinning by the time he was done and realized that everyone at that table completely understood how your team was your family. “They didn't tell me how long you've been dealing with this,” he mentioned.

“It got bad three years ago,” Kira answered. “That's when we came back to Doctor O. I destroyed his house a year ago.”

Tommy squeezed her shoulder to remind her that she had nothing to be ashamed of. “I came after,” Shane said as Trent leaned into him. “Cam has me on hiatus. I haven't had to do too much here, but I think it makes everyone feel better.”

They all nodded in agreement. Conner looked at Trip. “So, like two more nights and we'll be more like Kira?” He asked hopefully. Trip nodded. “Cool, dude.”

***

It took less time than that considering that he had already set up a few barriers to keep it out and it was just fixing it. Both men woke up feeling a bit better than they had the night before. He turned his attention to the other four. He looked at Hayley. “They'll be okay,” he assured her. “You should get some sleep.”

She nodded, heading off while Tommy looked at him. “I know you'll be back in four months, but what if they have symptoms before then?” He asked. Trip sat him down.

“They will,” he said. “But they'll be minor ones because the mind can't just heal overnight and that's why I'll be back. You can have Cole check in every once in a while. He won't be able to help much, but he will be able to tell if there's a serious problem.”

He left out the part where he was certain that Tommy would overreact and Trip couldn't make the trip back constantly. Having Cole as a nurse would help. “Okay,” Tommy answered. “Thanks for making it back.”

“We're Rangers. We're family,” Trip said cheerfully. “We're here if you need us. I need to talk to Trent and Shane.”

Tommy nodded, moving to let him. Trip headed over and sat down. He looked between them. “It's unlikely that you're going to need Shane to help stop Kira,” he said and noticed they both looked a little upset by that, thought they tried to hide it. “But you should stay for now, Shane. Even once they're better, they're going to naturally fall together.”

“Not with me,” Trent said quietly. Trip shook his head.

“They love you,” he said. “But they went through something you can't understand. And you've gone through something they can't understand. And you need someone who can help you.”

“Me,” Shane said. Trip nodded.

“You've been helping him a lot more than you think,” he said. “You're all healing now. You don't have to worry as much anymore, so just let yourselves relax and learn the new way things are.”

Shane nodded. “Cam won't mind if I don't go back for a while.”

Trent looked more than a little relieved by that. “Thanks, Trip.”

“No problem! If you get married though, I want an invitation. Alex and Jen owe me at least one fun visit to the past,” he said with a grin. “And I can't come back all the time, but ask Wes to borrow the 'phone' if you need it.”

They both agreed and Trip headed home.

***

Katie and Lucas were waiting for him when he got out of the ship. He wasn't at all surprised that neither of them looked too happy with him. Katie frowned. “You didn't tell us.”

“You always want to go when I tell you,” Trip said. “You would have insisted you could fight them off or that the ship had weird controls or something.”

Katie looked guilty about it and Lucas tried to hide that Trip was right. He needn't have bothered. Trip knew he was right. He watched as Jen strolled into the room and looked at him. “Mission accomplished?”

“I'm going to have to go back in four months to check up on them,” he answered. Jen nodded.

“I already penciled it in. Well, Alex did but I told him to,” she said, grinning. Trip grinned back.

“And Jen? It's possible that Trent Fernandez and Shane Clark might be married eventually,” he said. “I want to go to the wedding.”

“Is it going to be tomorrow?” She asked.

“No,” Trip answered.

“Good. That will give me time to show Alex that I'm right and you're going,” she answered, pulling him into a hug. He felt a hard hit from behind as Katie less than gently joined in. Lucas just put a hand on his head and grinned. He'd get his smile from Alex on a job well-done and that would be the full-greeting from his family.

“Did Alex yell at SPD?” He asked.

“Alex yelled for so long that he lost his voice. Then I took over,” Jen assured him. “They won't do it again. They're getting rid of it now. We probably should have looked to see who used it in the first place before we started yelling, but Commander Tate was patient when he found out what happened. After he yelled back, of course.”

“That's patient?” Katie asked. Lucas snorted.

“It is for Commander Tate,” he muttered. “Welcome home, Trip.”

Trip just smiled and nodded. He was exhausted, he was still annoyed that it had happened, and he was pretty sure he was in for a fight with Alex on the proper use of time travel later, but he'd managed to help fix another Ranger team. He'd helped part of his family and only slightly less importantly, he was home.


End file.
